King Snugglamane gets a message that Bao Bao, Mao Mao's old partner, is arriving. Mao Mao is convinced that Bao Bao betrayed him and cost him his tail. However, Bao Bao turns out to be a regular dog, with Badgerclops stating that Mao Mao has a tendency to be hyperbolic, and that an actual monster they once faced together is coming to attack the town.
This episode has examples of:
- Crying Wolf: Badgerclops doesn't believe Mao Mao's story about Bao Bao because he usually acts melodramatic. Turns out everything except the part of him being a fierce warrior was true, but Bao Bao, being a normal (and cute) dog, didn't deliberately betray Mao Mao.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Bao Bao is played up as a horrid barbarian warrior who betrayed Mao Mao and left him for dead. In truth, he's an adorable, non-anthropomorphic shiba inu with a short attention span.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: When Mao Mao first learns of Bao Bao's arrival he tells the king the prepare the villagers for battle, arms them with spears and tells them how they're going to face oblivion. Subverted when Bao Bao is shown to be utterly harmless. Double Subverted when the real monster shows up.
- Unreliable Narrator: Mao Mao has a lot of baggage concerning Bao Bao, which is pointed out by Adorabat near the end.
- Warning Mistaken for Threat: Mao Mao finds the message left in the king's castle, "Beware of the monster Bao Bao," and, due to his baggage with Bao Bao abandoning him in the past, assumes that Bao Bao is the monster. It turns out he was trying to warn Mao Mao that the monster from their last adventure together was on his way to Pure Heart Valley.
